Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Interview with Alexander Charalambides, K.I.A.

1. Can you gives us a brief
overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?

K.I.A.’s the story of driven
teens solving the mystery at the heart of their military academy. It features
unhelpful doctors, helicopters, and a man with a fish bowl on his head.

K.I.A. definitely maybe could
have a sequel, I have plans for up to three more books, but I think i need more
time to gauge people’s reaction to it.

2. Do you have favorite
character?

The previously mentioned fish
bowl man. People see him as hostile, but he’s misunderstood.

3. What is your writing
process? Do you listen to music or do you prefer silence?

I listen to music if I feel like
writing “comfortably”, if that makes sense. When I need to get serious, if I’m
tackling something complex or difficult I won’t listen to music, and if I’m
aiming to produce a lot very quickly I’ll listen to the same thing on repeat.

4. Do you outline your story
or go where your muse takes you?

I have an outline. No-one’s “muse”
is good enough to produce a story better than if they’d used a well-thought out
plan instead.

5. Do you hire an editor to
review your manuscript before publishing?

While it’s almost impossible to
produce a final edit on your own, I think all writers should learn how to edit.
I crowd-source my copy-editing though, you always need multiple pairs of eyes
for something like that.

6. What have you learned
during your self-publishing journey?

Learn optimal genre category
placement when you sell your book, and don’t commit to writing something that
your yourself aren’t passionate about, you’ll burn out and it’ll be a slog to
finish.

7. Do you find it difficult to
juggle your time between marketing your current book and working on your next
book?

I really thought I would, but
basically, once I get sick of one I go to do the other.

8. What advice would you give
a new author just entering the self-publishing arena?

Without a publisher to push you
for results, you have to set your own goals and deadlines. I’m still not great
at this, but I’d say this is the most important thing an indie author needs to
learn.

9. Besides writing, do you
have any other passions?

I mentioned how every writer
should be their own editor earlier, and I know this’ll make me sound boring but
I actually really enjoy editing.

Combined with storytelling
analysis, which I also really enjoy, you’ll get a lot out of understanding what
your works do and don’t need, and having enough conviction to make those
changes yourself.

10. What’s next for you?

My next novel, Formula Q, is
about a futuristic racing league, and the drivers who discover they’re being
used as scapegoats in a political conflict. I’m aiming for a mid-summer
release.

BLURB:

Hildegard
lives in a real-life dollhouse, surrounded by prop houses and actors who play
friends, teachers and foster parents. Only one man ever seemed real, and after
his disappearance, she’s had enough playing along. As Hildegard makes her final
preparations to run away from home, a swarm of black clad soldiers appear,
controlling the police and swarming across her home town. She can evade them
for now, but after learning their mission, she decides to play along one last
time, following them to Truman Academy, a lonely building on a freezing
aleutian island. Hildegard knows it for what it is: just another prop, but not
everyone feels the same way. Through the hell of endless drills and marching,
Hildegard befriends the stealthy Grace and bloodthirsty David, and enlists them
in an effort to unravel the plan of the man called G and his monstrous
menagerie of inhuman soldiers.

Alexander Charalambides was born
in London and grew up in Berkshire in the UK. He studied Creative Writing, and
graduated from the Open University.

As a freelance writer Alexander
enjoys storytelling just as much as editing and analysis, but often takes time
off to enjoy wind surfing, do the sickest of motorcycle flips, wrestle with
deadly animals and lie about his hobbies.

In 2008 he moved to the USA and
now lives in New Hampshire’s beautiful White Mountains with his family and two
dogs, Gwynne and Gimli.

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